Keyboards have been an integral part of computing since the beginning of the technological revolution. Mechanical character-input devices made to replace handwriting started being used as far back as times of typewriters. As new technologies emerged, input devices and methods were adopted in various ways, such as keyboards, mice, styli, speech recognition, and touchscreens. Since then, we have seen the introduction of several auxiliary functions (e,g., “Ctrl” button, “Alt” button, mouse wheel) for keyboards and mice to enhance their functionality. However, very little change has gone through the basic concept and architecture of the keyboards.
For most human-machine interactions today, the QWERTY keyboard layout, whether physical or on screen, remains the most widely used and default standard for reasons of relative speed, convenience, and error-free data entry. The standard QWERTY layout for the English keyboard was first optimized based on the finger positioning, convenience, and statistical frequency of character and word utilization in common writing. Other layouts such as Dvorak and Colemak were developed based on their own analyses. Other languages also have keyboard layouts based on their own assessment of the placement of character keys.
With ever-evolving electronic devices, the design of conventional keyboards started becoming less convenient, especially after the widespread development and use of smartphones, smart TVs, tablets, and related mobile applications. Several other methods (e.g., handwriting recognition, gesture recognition, voice recognition, software keyboard with touch screens) have been introduced as alternate forms of human interaction with ever-modernizing electronic devices.
Most current alternatives to physical keyboards have their drawbacks, limitations and other compromises. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,754,864 to Paul discloses a touchscreen keyboard and a method that generates a geometric shape for each finger of a user (ten total), the positioning corresponding to the characters on a conventional two-handed keyboard, each shape including characters at predefined locations around the perimeter of the shapes. The keyboard operation module detects a sliding movement of a finger from inside the shape and toward the perimeter of the shape, and then displays the particular character in a text-entry area. The main drawback of this prior art is that it requires and occupies too much screen space. With several keys operating at once, the keyboard requires significant horizontal space on the screen. Further, with several keys spread across the screen of a touchscreen device, it may be difficult for a user to type as if it were a physical keyboard. Its practical use may be limited only to larger devices such as tablets. The present invention eliminates these drawbacks.
Handwriting recognition, gesture recognition, and voice recognition are highly computation intensive, slow, and prone to error. Voice recognition is especially vulnerable to privacy issues because attempted input through speech may be heard by others—multiple times depending on the accuracy of the recognition program. An on-screen QWERTY keyboard on touchscreen devices would be less error-prone, but the layout takes up a very large portion—often half or all depending on the orientation of the device—of the relatively small displays of mobile devices. Moreover, the standard QWERTY layout may not fit within certain devices, such as a smartwatch or a remote controller for a smart TV. Therefore, a way to input characters with minimal sacrifice of screen real estate is desirable.